Every so often, in the world of boxing, you come across talent that pours out with championship ingredients.

Vanes Martirosyan has that kind of sure-fire potential.

Perhaps potential is the wrong word for Martirosyan (33-1-1, 21 Kos), who faces Mexico’s Mario Lozano (28-4, 22 Kos) on Friday, at Morongo Casino. Maybe “destiny” is the proper term to employ for the junior middleweight from Glendale, Calif.

Back in the early 2000s, Martirosyan was banging out victories in amateur tournaments with a style that was both aggressive and compelling, a cross between a taller Erik Morales and a more refined Kelly Pavlik.

When he competed in the Olympic tryouts in 2004, not many in the West Coast were surprised by Martirosyan’s success. The Armenian-American had blazed through many tournaments in California and had similar success against East Coast boxers. But, making the Olympic team, and winning, is two different matters. International boxing has scant resemblance to actual pro boxing and Martirosyan was one and done.

After the Olympics Martirosyan was signed by Top Rank and trained at the Wild Card in Hollywood. That’s where the trouble began. It’s easy to get lost in the shuffle in a gym that harbors some of the best boxing talent in the world. Then he moved to Houston to train with Ronnie Shields and things seemed to get worse. It was a bad mixture for some reason. A return to Hollywood brought back normalcy but Martirosyan still seemed tangled in a junior middleweight stew.

Incredibly, people forget that despite all of these traps and mental land mines Martirosyan remained undefeated. Wins over Angel Hernandez, Andrey Tsurkan, and Kassim Ouma were not easy fights. Wins over undefeated Joe Greene and hard-hitting Richard Gutierrez proved he was a step above contender status. Yet, he had to wait.

Finally, he was matched against Cuban southpaw Erislandy Lara in November 2011. Few wanted to fight the slick moving lefty, but Martirosyan was anxious to show the boxing world that he was a world championship-caliber prizefighter. They met at the Wynn Resort in Las Vegas and it was clear both boxers were on their game. But an accidental clash of heads opened a cut over Martirosyan’s left eye. They couldn’t close the cut and the fight was declared a technical draw in the ninth round. Like they say, if he didn’t have bad luck he wouldn’t have luck at all.

Lara is a world champion now, but no one can say Martirosyan is a step lower. That night they clashed it was visible to all who saw the fight that the Glendale prizefighter has the tools that separate the champions from the contenders.

The loss against Demetrius Andrade for the vacant WBO junior middleweight title by split decision opened the door for Martirosyan to go a different direction. It was a very close fight and showed he’s right there knocking at the door.

Just recently Martirosyan signed a promotion contract with Goossen-Tutor Promotions, who also have Andre Ward, Chris Arreola, Josesito Lopez, John Molina and the brothers Oscar and Javier Molina, who are no relation to John.

“I want to make a statement in my fight,” said Martirosyan, 27, while at the Ten Goose Boxing Gym in Van Nuys. “I want to fight for a world title, it doesn’t matter who it is.”

For several years Martirosyan let the boxing world know that winning a world title remains his goal. Anyone with a championship belt can find him a willing challenge.

“Everything I’ve done in the past has been because of my athletic abilities. Now I’m with the proper team and the proper trainer,” says Martirosyan, who now trains with Joe Goossen. “I feel I’m with the right trainer and feel like I’m free to do what I need to do.”

Dan Goossen, president of Goossen-Tutor Promotions, said that he feels he picked up a boxing gem with Martirosyan.

“Here’s a guy with all of the talent in the world,” said Goossen. “I think he’s going to do great things.”

ESPN2 will televise.

Other boxing notes

Heather Hardy (8-0, 2 Kos) meets Nydia Feliciano (7-4-3) in the main event on Friday, March 21 at the Aviator Sports Complex in Brooklyn, New York. The junior featherweight fight is scheduled for eight rounds. On the same card Lancaster, Calif.’s Joel Diaz Jr. (14-0, 12 Kos) risks his undefeated record against veteran Jose Beranza (36-29-2) in a junior lightweight fight.

WBA bantamweight titlist Anselmo Moreno (34-2-1, 12 Kos) meets Argentina’s Javier Chacon (19-1, 4 Kos) on Saturday March 22, at Panama City, Panama. This is Moreno’s first title defense since regaining the WBA title that he vacated to fight Abner Mares in 2012.

Cuban heavyweight Odlanier Solis (20-1, 13 Kos) fights American heavyweight Tony Thompson (38-4, 26 Kos) for the WBC International title on Saturday March 22. Their match takes place in Istanbul, Turkey.

Former champion Fernando Montiel (51-4-2) defeated former champion Cristobal Cruz (40-16-3) by majority decision after 10 rounds on Saturday in a junior lightweight match. Their contest took place in Chiapas, Mexico. Both fighters hail from Mexico.

Maureen Shea (23-2, 11 Kos) defeated Nohime Dennisson (5-3-2) by unanimous decision after 10 rounds of a featherweight contest. The match was held on Saturday March 15 at Oxnard, California. Shea formerly lived in the Bronx, New York and now lives in Ventura.

COMMENTS

-Skibbz :

I'm not too sold on Martirosyan. His defense is lacking in my opinion, that may not be so much of a problem if he was doing a lot of the other things right but when he's not commanding inside the ring and dominating his opponent it can start to become a major issue. I think he will be exposed in due course. Here's a nice clip of him in 2004, facing Tim Bradley in the olympic trials. Enjoy!

-stormcentre :

Vanes Martirosyan is a pretty solid boxer.
If my memory serves me correctly he beat Berto, Bradley and Trout in the amateurs.
That counts for something in my books, as does the fact that he has lived at the Wild Card (WC) gym for a while and there are no stories of him getting beat up.
I have long thought he was going stale and/or getting neglected at the WC gym.
It happens.
Freddy is not going to be able to stretch across more than 4 or 5 top boxers without someone losing his attention. So what are you going to do? Give your attention to the guy that makes you a few thousand with little PPV and other significant coverage, or the ones that are already stars and fill the bank account up?
Fact of life, even though it’s not fair.
The relationship between Top Rank and the WC gym (or any other promotional outfit and their chosen Gym-partner) is something fighters need to be aware of before they sign and/or go there looking to fulfill their boxing dreams.
A guy like Vanes Martirosyan, with his pedigree and success, needs to have a dedicated trainer there all the time, particularly given the weight division he’s in and how competitive it is.
I have been told that he, when enthusiastic and inspired, would slap the heavier JCC Junior around quite easy, and held his own with 3G in semi-friendly sparring matches.
Read into that what you will, but there are worse guys that can walk through your gym door looking for direction and a world title shot.
That said, I would have expected him to beat Demetrius Andrade, but he didn’t.
Hopefully his next fight will allow him to get back to where he wants.
One thing is for sure, and I hope I am wrong with this, but I don’t think Top Rank will be much help now after this article and others like it.
That said, the article was well written and flowed across the major points quite well in my humble opinion.

-Radam G :

Your memory serves you right, Storm. Holla!

-Skibbz :

I just don't like his style personally, I never have. He is very determined and clearly won't stop until his dreams are achieved but that's the case for many fighters, and he is one of the many. I think there are too many who could beat or him take him to a close decision... Goosen will be whispering those sweet nothings in his ear.. but his dreams will get shot down again....

-Radam G :

Naming helps you quite a bit in boxing. Quite a few pugs switch their names to get the right click and pick. The last really super one was Vinny Paz.
Vanes should start using "Vanes Mart," instead of the whole last name "Martirosyan." Holla!